West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1887-10-20

a
door " 10 Admittance." or course I entered.
got inside and found II pin factory and they
were making pins, very serviceable, fine aud
useful pins. So the spirit OF exclusiveness
has practically written over the outside door
OF many church "No admittancen And
| II tho stranger enters he finds practically
written over the second door: " No Admit
lance and II he goes I'm, over all the pew
/ doors seems written: mo Admittance while
the minister stands in the pulpit, hammering
out his little niceties of belief, pounding out
inc technlcalties Of religion, making pins.
In the most practical, commOnsense way. and
laying aside the non-essentials and the hard
| dennluons OF religion, go out on the God
given mission, telling the people what they
need and when and how they can get t.
Comparatively little effort has as yet been
made TO save that large class OF persons in
our midst called skeptics, and he who goes 70
Fork here will not be building upon anotner
mans domination. There is great multi.
tnie OF them. They are afraid OF us and our
churches, fo- the reason we don't know how
| TO treat them. One of this class met Christ
anu near with what tenderness and pathos
and beauty, and success Christ dealt with
hlm; Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength
ms Is the first commandment, aud the sec
ond is like 20 this; namely, thou shalt love
my neighbor ms thyselE There Is no
other commandment greater than this
And tho scribe said TO him: "Wen.
master, thou hast said the truth,
Tor there is one God, and TO love
him with all the heart, and all
the understanding, and all the soul and ali
the strength is moro than whole burnt offer
lngs and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw
that he answered discraetiy he said unto
him: Thou art not far from the kingdom
OF 6od. 30 skeptic was saved in one in
terVlew But few Christian people treat tho
skeptic In that way. Instead of taking hold
OF him with the gentle hand of love- we are
APT TO take him with the iron pincers OF &c
clesiasticism.
You would not be so rough on that man II
you knew by what process he had lost his
ialth in Christianity. / have known men
skeptical from the fact that they grew M i'm
houses where religion was overdone. Sun
aay was the most awful day of the week.
lhey had religion driven into them with n
trip hammer. They were surfeited with
prayer meetings. They were stuffed and
choked with catechisms. They were often
tod they were the worst boys the parents
ever knew because they liked to ride down
hill better than to read Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress" Whenever father and mother
talked OF religion they drew down the corners
al THAR mouth and rolled up their eyes II
any one thing will send n boy or girl To do.
struction sooner than another that is IT, III
hnd had such n father and mother l fear
should lave been an iniidel
Others were tripped up of slSepticism from
being grleyously wronged by some man who
D
partner in business who turned out to be a
ttrst-claSs scOundrel, though a professed
Christian. Twenty years ago they had lost
al ialth by what happened in an oil company
which was formed amid the petroleum ex-
element. The company owned no land, or
If they did, there was no sign of oil produced
But the President of the company was n
Presbyterian elder, and tho Treasurer was an
Episcopal vestryman, and one director was a
Methodist class leader, and the other direc-
tors prominent members Of Baptist and Con-
gregational churches. Circulars were gotten
out telling what fabulous prospects opened be-
lore TINS company. Innocent men and
women who had little money to
invest, and that little their ALL said: II don't
know anything about this company, but SO
many good men are at the head of it that 10
must be excellent, and taking stock in it
almost as good as joining the church, So
they bought the stock, and perhaps received
one dividend so as TO keep them STILL but
after while they found that the company
had reorganized and had "A different presi-
dent, and different treasurer, and different
directors 1t was said, by way of explana-
ton, that other engagements or i'll health
had caused the former officers of the company,
with many regrets TO resign And all that
the subscribers of that stock had to
show for their Investment was beauti-
fully ornamented certificate Sometimes
that man looking over his old papers
comes across that certificate, and it is
so suggestive that he VOWS he wants none of
the religion that the presidents and trustees
and directors OF that oil company professed
OF course their rejection of religion on such
grounds was unphilosOphcal and unwise L
am told that onethird of the United States
army deserts every year, and there are 10 900
court martial trials every year. Is that any
thing against the United States Government
that swore them int And if soldiers of Jesus
Christ desert, is that anything against the
Christianity which they swore to support and
defendl How do you judge of the currency
of countryi BY counterfeit billi Oh,
you must have patience with those who have
been swlndled by religious pretenders. Live
in the presence Of others a frank honest
earnest Christian life, that they may be at
tracted TO the same Saviour upon whom your
hopes depend
Remember skepticism always has some rea-
son, good or bad, for existing. Goethe's ire
ligion started when the news came to Ger
many of the earthquake at Lisbon, Nov
/, 17I5 That G0,0O0 people should have per-
ished in that earthquake and in the after
rising OF the Tagus river so stirred his sym
pathies that he threw up his belief ia the
goodness Of God.
Others have gone into skepticisn from a
natural persistence in asking the reason why
They have been fearfully stabbed of the in
terrogation point There are 50 many things
they cannot get explained. They cannot
understand the Trinity, or how God
can be sovereign, and yet man
81 don't understand why a good God
\ should have let sin come into the world
/ Neither do /. You say. "WhY was that
/ child started in life with such disadvan.
\ tagcs, while others have all physical and
mental equipment p / cannot tell They 20
/ ont Of church on Easter morning and say
- That do trine of the resurrection COMPOUNDED
/ me SO 70 is to me n mystery beyond un.
/ rayeiment. ] understand all the processes by
\ which men get into the dark. j know them
/ all. have Travelled with burning feet their
bistered way The first word that children
learn 70 utter is generally papa or mamma.
j think the first word I ever uttered was
/ why know what it Is TO have n hun
I dred midnights pour their darkness into
I one hour. Such men are not to be
scoifed at, but helped. Turn your back upon
| q drowning man when you have the rope
/ with which TO pull him ashore and let that
/ woman I'm the third story of house perish In
/ the ilames when you have n ladder with
/ which 10 holp her out and help her down,
rather than turn your back scO1iugly on a
skeptic whose soul is in more peril than the
bodies OF those other endangered ones posi-
I bly, can be. oh, skopticism is n dark land.
/ There are men in this house who would give
. thousand worlds If they possessed them
/ 20 get back 20 the placid faith Of their fathers
J and mothers aud II is our place 30 help them
and we may help them, never through their
I heals, but always through their hearts
. These skeptics, when brought b. Jesus, will 10
. nightly aiected-far more 20 than those
. who never examined the evidences OF Chris
tanity. Thomas Chalmers was once n skcp